On Islamic Architecture

January 15: Yarshater Lectures at SOAS Lecture, United Kingdom

January 16: Heritage Issues of Hampi,Conference India

January 21: Contemporary Arab American Art Exhibition, United States

January 23: Conservation of Biodiversity in Protected Areas: Opportunities and Challenges, Conference India

January 29: 11th International Conference on Humane Habitat (ICHH) 2009, Conference India

http://www.archnet.org/calendar/

Digital Cities

New London Architecture, The Building Centre
26 Store Street
London, USA

Munio Weinraub & Amos Gitai – Architecture and Film in Israel
Pinakothek der Moderne
Munich, Germany
Now   to January 25, 2009

Bauhaus 1919 & 208;1933: workshops for modernity
The Museum of Modern Art
New York, NY, USA
Now   to January 25, 2009

Challenges of Urban Architecture – Design and Engineering of Construction Companies
Museum of Modern Art Saitama
Saitama-ken, Japan
Now   to January 25, 2009

Building Sustainable Communities
Danish Architecture Centre
Copenhagen, Denmark
Now   to January 29, 2009

The RIBA President’s Medals Student Awards
V&A RIBA Architecture Gallery
London, SW7 2RL England, United Kingdom
Now   to   January 31, 2009

More updates: http://www.architectureweek.com/cgi-bin/calendar.cgi?e

Planning, if it is to be successful, must start at the beginning. The beginning, according to Wright’s approach, is the total situation of a village or a metropolis in its statewide and multi-state region.

The country was really a number of natural “flow systems.” MacKaye also saw towns and cities as part of these flows systems–determined, to be sure, by natural resources but built by men. If the two systems did not operate in harmony, either the land would be ruined or the towns fail.

The New Communities Movement

In the early twenties, discussions were held on community problems in meetings in New York City. They all felt that the piecemeal development of residential communities on endless gridiron tracts was wasteful and unnecessary.
Worse still, it did not produce the kind of housing and communities we ware capable of creating. The common practice of laying out block-pattern streets long before the builder arrived on the scene prevented clustered community design and the interspersal of open and built-up spaces.

By forming home building corporations, financed by prosperous companies seeking long-term investments, well-de-signed communities could be build.

The answer to this problem was the “super-block,” an island of green, bordered by houses and carefully skirted by peripheral automobile roads. Parking areas were conveniently located along the peripheral roads in carefully sited clusters.

Radburn idea to create a series of super-blocks, each around an open green with the greens themselves interconnected. Within the greens, pathways led to schools, shopping, and other centers. The greenways were pedestrian ways. Where they crossed a street they bridged over it or passed under it. The automobile circulation did not interfere with, or endanger, the pedestrian. Auto access to houses was by means of a short dead-end road. Hence the houses were arranged as cul-de-sac clusters around a stub service drive. The main circulation streets were also kept generally free of parked cars to allow unhindered flow of through traffic.

Essential to the Radburn idea was the scheduling and coordination of its construction. No town can be built as a whole overnight–unless it is built for a special purpose or by one large company. An essential aspect of the Radburn idea was the organization of the town into cohesive neighborhoods.

The idea would be applicable not only to new towns but to large city areas. One of the objectives of re-planning old cities became the creation of neighborhood centers and the physical delineation of neighborhood groups.

From the book: “The Architecture of Town and Cities”, Paul Spreiregen, AIA

Along canals, where water flows, we experience the veins of the old city. The transportation lines filled all the time not just with citizens but also tourists. No matter how the weather is, abundant amount of people still crowding the canals. The sights are unforgettably pretty, full of colors and brings to you enjoyment and merriment. There’s something about the bright colors of the buildings that never contradicted with the water, no matter what the sky looks like. They seemed to be always perfect.

Joining the force of the twilight, the city is an unforgettable sight. Just to see it again would be a blessing for my thirsty architect’s soul. It is a feast for my hungry mood and a recharge of spirit. Canals in Venezia as we already heard functioned as their main transport route. Water buses run around busily on them, not to mention the black beauty gondolas with long oars complete with their oarsmen. Busy as it is, there’s no need to have neither traffic light nor lane divider, the users of these canals know already where to drive, stop, slow or fast.

Magnificent as it is, the canals scenery, a gift for you, my readers on this fine day…

When thinking about an impact of a place that is of a city scale, with many functions and means of usage, we think about an urban space. Particularly in this 2000 year-old city; Bonn, there is the need of the whole urban scale to congregate at one point and through tradition; Germans have been used to using Marktplatz as an urban space even for political reasons.

The lay out of the square is quite similar in any German town, in front of the old Rathaus (City Hall), an opening of square fenced by commercial buildings, such as shops, cafes, and restaurants, even in some cases hotels completed with some kind of statue as a mark for the city.

On the market place social interaction happens and created life atmosphere to the city soul. I spent 3 whole months in Bonn, and at almost twice a month there was always something happening.

This market place has been used for different urban function, such as traditional fruit and vegetable market (regularly open every weekdays), commercial and even cultural events (usually at weekends). The different uses we see for this has told us the liveliness of city and thus created the space called as urban centre. This is a feature any given old European cities.

Graffiti exists where human civilization exists. It is almost impossible to find a human settlement without graffiti. They can be found everywhere, almost on any surface throughout the urban sphere, even on surfaces that exceeds the capacity of the human logic. Some people consider graffiti as decorative elements in the urban space. Others relate graffiti to public disorder and vandalism. Therefore perceive graffiti as a sign of lowering community life qualities.Before we continue any further, it would be best if we knew the meaning of the term ‘graffiti’. The term originated from the Italian word graffito (singular form) which means scratch because back in ancient times one could only scratch a solid surface/wall to send out a public message.

Form of visual communication, usually illegal, involving the unauthorized marking of public space by an individual or group. Technically the term applies to designs scratched through a layer of paint or plaster, but its meaning has been extended to other markings. Graffiti is widely considered a form of antisocial behavior performed in order to gain attention or simply for thrills. But it also can be understood as an expressive art form. Derived from the Italian word graffio (“scratch”), graffiti (“incised inscriptions,” plural but often used as singular) has a long history. It has been found in ancient Roman ruins, in the remains of the Mayan city of Tikal in Central America, on rocks in Spain dating to the 16th century, and in medieval English churches. During the 20th century, graffiti in the U.S. and Europe was closely associated with gangs. Graffiti was particularly prominent in major urban centers throughout the world; common targets were subways, billboards, and walls. In the 1990s there emerged a new form of graffiti, known as “tagging,” which entailed the repeated use of a single symbol or series of symbols to mark territory

–Brittanica Concise Encyclopaedia

This article will discuss about the origins of graffiti, its issues, and how public authorities should deal with them. Further more this essay will question the possibility of legalizing graffiti as a public form of art. In an interview done in 1998 by Ken Dray, Coordinator of the New South Wales Graffiti Solutions Program with Mathew Peet, a graffiti artist, rap musician, and youth worker, a discussion was held on the many aspects of graffiti culture and strategies to address to the issue. The author quotes a few words describing Peet’s perspective on graffiti:

“…I definitely think that graffiti is a voice in a way – it’s like the purest form of ‘unedited’ expression. There is no censorship. Basically you can express yourself whatever way you want. The way graffiti expresses itself, the thing that everyone sees is tags, because that’s just someone writing their name, but in a way that’s a statement. In a way that is saying “Here I am”. But it’s also a shy way of expressing yourself. You are not actually showing yourself and saying “I’m out there” but you’re leaving a mark that says you were there.“

The quoted words describe graffiti as an act of insecurity, where the artist does not have to show up publicly to express their existence. Unlike other forms of art (e.g. painting, sculpting, etc.), the artist’s tag / work can be found anywhere throughout the city and may acclaim to a certain degreenof fame but the image of the artist themselves is inconceivable to the greater public outside the graffiti crew.

A journal by Saul Bolivar published in 1997 called ‘“Bombing” L.A.: Graffiti Culture and the Contest for Visual Space’ mentions graffiti as a result of the density of the urban space. As the urban space shrinks due to the extreme race for claims upon it, people somehow adapt to the situation by looking for, and creating new forms of space, adding to the density of urban space in a different way. Saul Bolivar addresses this phenomenon as visual density[1].

So, is graffiti just an act of vandalism or social disorder? Or is it an act of shy-ness? Or is it the result of the never ending competition of claims to the urban space?

Graffiti: a Brief History

Ancient Forms of Graffiti

As stated earlier, graffiti exists where human settlement exists. The earliest forms of graffiti were the cave paintings by cave dwellers from the prehistoric times. Modern style graffiti, according to Wikipedia, can be traced back to ancient Greece, in the city of Ephesus which is now modern-day Turkey and appears to advertise prostitution.

The Romans carved their graffiti in monuments, and walls. There are also samples of graffiti preserved under the ashes of Mount Vesuvius in the city of Pompeii, offering description of everyday life on the ancient streets of Pompeii. Everyday Latin, insults, love declarations, up to political consigns.

Examples of graffiti are not only found in Greece and Rome, there were also examples from the Mayan site of Tikal in Guatemala. The French also made graffiti by carving their names on monuments during the Napoleon campaign in the 1790s.

Modern Graffiti

Political activists used graffiti as a quick and easy way to make a statement without too much risk to the writer[2]. Gang graffiti began to arise during the beginning of graffiti’s foundation, using graffiti to mark territory. Modern graffiti culture began towards the end of the 1960s in Philadelphia. The centre of graffiti innovation moved from Philadelphia to New York City in the 1970s. 1966-1971 saw the invention of newer and much more creative writing techniques by the graffiti pioneers.

During the period between 1966-1989 graffiti history had its prominent years where the act evolved in underground subways and on the cars themselves. Although pre-dating the hip-hop culture by almost a decade and being a culture on its own, modern graffiti (20^th century graffiti) is depicted through Hollywood movies as an element of the hip-hop culture alongside hip-hop’s DJ, MC, and break dancing[3]. In the 1970s graffiti was made synonymous with the world of anti-establishment punk rock with bands such as Black Flag and Crass.

The Pioneering Era

Graffiti faced a surge in style and popularity during 1971-1974 in New York City, where an artist began to gain popularity outside the graffiti society. During this time artists began to move from the city streets to the subways. The first seeds of competition came into being as artists tried to do as many tags and bombs (large pieces of graffiti) as possible. Since there were so many graffiti artists at this period, tags began to take their distinctive calligraphic appearance to distinguish between artists. New techniques developed during this period, thicker outlines, polka dots, cross hatches, etc. leading to high demands in paint. Mainstream society noticed this boom and 1972 saw the founding of United Graffiti Artists (UGA) by Hugo Martinez with the aim to present graffiti in an art gallery setting.

Graffiti’s peak as an art form was during 1975-1977. Heavy ‘bombing’ occurred due to economic restraints on New York City, rendering the city helpless to combat the art form through graffiti removal programs or transit maintenance. Pieces that used to cover the height of the subway cars evolved into whole cars. A new style emerged that was more complex than ordinary tags, but less intricate than a piece. This new style is known as ‘throw up’, altering the standards set in the 1970s and leading to the desire of artists to expand and change.

During the end of the 1970s and entering the early 1980s the Metro Transit Authority (MTA) began to build better fences around train yards and was into total eradication of graffiti. Many artists called it quits since their work was continuously scrubbed off. However, the established art world began to be more receptive to the graffiti culture and for many outside New York City it was the first time being exposed to the art form.

The streets became more dangerous due to the crack (cocaine) epidemic in the 1980s, causing a huge decline in writing. Other factors that support the decline were restrictions on paint sale and display, and penalties for writers were made more severe. Writers at that period became very territorial for good writing spots, and strength in numbers and unity became increasingly important. Writers who chose to go alone were often beaten and robbed of their supplies.

Die Hard Era

Between the years 1985-1989 the writers’ only hope for writing was subway cars heading for the scrap yard. The MTA had won their war on graffiti and the culture had taken a step back. The number of writers declined rapidly, along with the number of violence associated with graffiti crews.

Clean Train Movement Era

The era was marked by the movement of the majority of graffiti artists from subway cars to street galleries. Many debated whether graffiti should be considered as an actual art form. In the early 1980s, artists like Jean-Michel Basquiat displayed their works in art galleries and ran their own studios.

Commercialization came with the popularity and legitimization of graffiti. Large companies like IBM launched advertising campaigns which involved writers. Along with the rise of graffiti’s popularity, video games began depicting the graffiti culture, in a positive aspect.

Graffiti Styles

Tag: the most basic writing of an artist can either be done by spray paint or marker. When graffiti is referred to vandalism, “tagging” is the most common example given since the main highlight of tagging is the style of penmanship and it lacks of artistic form.

Throw-up: simple pieces using only a few colors, comprising of only a few letters and often incorporate exclamation marks, sacrificing aesthetics for speed. A throw-up can either be done using either spray paint or marker.

Fill-in or Piece: more elaborate compared to throw-ups, incorporating block or bubble-letters, using three or more colors. Pieces are more time consuming, therefore increasing the risk of writers getting caught by the authority.

Wild style or wicked style: a more complex piece where the letters are usually interlocking making them hard to read by the non-graffiti society as the letters merges into one another in an undecipherable manner.

Blockbuster: fill-in that covers an entire wall, usually with the purpose of covering up other artist’s tag.

Get-up: a quick attempt to cover up another artist’s work using a sticker. This action is normally considered lazy by most artists, but others consider the five-ten minutes spent preparing the sticker is not worthy of the title lazy.

Each graffiti piece shows different styles: it shows the culture of the artist’s country of origin which plays a great role in shaping the artist’s personal style.

Graffiti and The City

The Function of Graffiti

Nun. By the Pen, and the (Record) which (men) write,-

Al-Qur’an, 068.001 (Al-Qalam [The Pen])

He who taught (the use of) pen, taught man that which he knew not,-

Al-Qur’an, 096.004-005 (Al-Alaq [The Clot, Read])

From the two verses found in The Holy Qur’an, in relation to this issue, we can say through ancient graffiti, we can obtain information on everyday life in the ancient cities around the world, and through modern day graffiti (with spray paint acting as the pen) one can catch a glimpse of other’s point of view, and if treated as signs of culture, graffiti serves as an instrument of cultural record. The future society may be able to learn about the level of cultural advancement in our time through graffiti.

The Wikipedia states that graffiti is often related to the subculture rebelling against authority, and usually expresses various political practices. Graffiti also helps deliver ‘anti-war’, ‘feminist’, ‘anarchist’, and other campaign messages.

Graffiti is not always an attempt to deliver certain messages or opinions. In some cases graffiti is the result of pure desire, hunger for recognition, or resulting from an act of affection (Pride).

“I don’t know, it’s just getting to have your name well known all around the

place . . . They’ll be like, they’ll see your tag and they’ll be like, that’s

good . . . and they’ll be like, I know who writes that, I’m his friend . . . he’s

heaps cool.”

Researcher: So who do you piece for?

Interviewee: Me.

Researcher: You did them for you?

Interviewee: I don’t have to prove anything. I don’t want to make anyone else happy.

It makes me happy, that’s all I care about.

–‘Our Desires Are Ungovernable; Writing Graffiti in Urban Space’ (Halsey/Young, 2006)

Graffiti and The Community

In general the community looks at graffiti as something from the lower order of society, lowering the quality of life in the community. In the 1982 documentary feature “Style Wars”, detective Bernie Jacobs, Crime Prevention Coordinator for New York City, Transit Department defines graffiti as ‘the application of a medium to a surface’ graffiti in his opinion is not an art but a form of crime. The society also finds graffiti somewhat disturbing. A writer’s mother even considered graffiti as ‘a whole miserable subculture’.

Some people however found graffiti to be very interesting, that it meant more than just scribbles on the wall. As some works can only be read by the graffiti community, then it certainly has a deeper meaning than just names or words scribbled in a deformed manner on the urban surface?

When the art community began to accept graffiti as a form of art and opening their galleries to them, some writers find it as a commercialization attempt while others think that train graffiti is slowly dying out and art galleries are the next level for graffiti art, where pieces would last a life time. For the society outside New York City, during the early 80’s, graffiti on the trains are symbols of New York City. As graffiti makes their way to art galleries, some foreigners find it sad to see graffiti existing only in galleries and no longer on trains.

Graffiti Versus The Authority

Graffiti is one of the life quality offenses…destroying our lifestyle, making it hard to enjoy life and has to be responded to…a three time repeater should get five days in jail. A murderer, if you believe in the death penalty…should be executed, but you wouldn’t want to do that to a graffiti writer.

–Quoted from the feature documentary ‘Style Wars’.

It is clear that the authority finds graffiti as a plague to be dealt with to uphold the quality of life. A lot of money had been spent on replacing broken train side windows, and the possibility to replace the glass with acrylic was ruled out because graffiti removal solutions fog the acrylic windows. Trains are regularly washed, and with the graffiti on their bodies, the MTA had to use graffiti removal solution which defaces the trains’ physical make up.

The eradication of graffiti began by publishing posters saying “Make your mark in society, not on society” which were put in buses and trains. Television public service advertisements were also aired to aid the campaign against graffiti using youth icons of the time such as, Hector Camacho and Alex Ramos (Boxing stars; Camacho was a North American light weight champion boxer during that period, and Ramos was the leading middle weight contender.) The posters say “Take it from the champs, graffiti is for chumps.”

Another method the city government used is altering train shifts. The change of schedule, the building of double fences around train yards and putting dogs on patrol between the fences, lead to train graffiti’s slow death. Although the trains still have some tags written on them, but the big pieces and bombs no longer decorate their bodies making them relatively cleaner than before.

The writers reacted to this situation by pointing out bigger issues like fighting muggers and murderers on the transit system. They feel the MTA had wasted money on their battle against graffiti when there are people who do greater damage to the society than they do.

Different approaches towards the graffiti epidemic have been taken by authorities all over the world. In Europe there are ‘community cleaning squads’ such as France’s Protestant youth group Éclaireurs de France who took to their scrubbing action to archeological sites earning them the 1992 LG Nobel Prize in archaeology. Great Britain issued an anti-graffiti legislation known as the ‘Anti-Social Behavior Act 2003’. In the year 2004 the ‘Keep Britain Tidy’ campaign took place, issuing a press release on ‘Zero Tolerance’ for graffiti and supporting on the spot fines for anyone caught doing graffiti, and banning the sales of aerosol paint to teenagers. Other than that, the campaign also condemned the use of graffiti in advertising and music videos which often portrayed graffiti as something cool and edgy, arguing that the real world experience of graffiti exists far removed from the latter.

Authorities in Australia decided to provide legal walls for graffiti writers in an attempt to reduce the act of vandalism. Some suggest that this will encourage graffiti writers to be able to take their time and produce greater art without having to worry about getting caught by local authorities. Others are more skeptical and claim that the existence of legal walls will not reduce the amount of illegal graffiti. Another strategy local authority used to fight against graffiti was the ‘brownout’ which was a rapid removal program by painting trains brown. However this rapid removal program only managed to eradicate big pieces but not tagging.

Singapore had an incident involving graffiti in 1993 where several expensive cars were found spray painted. Michael P. Fay, a student from the Singapore American School was arrested and charged with vandalism. He eventually pleaded guilty to the charges in addition to stealing road signs and was sentenced to four months in jail, a fine of SG$3.500,- and caning according to 1966 Singapore Vandalism Act which was legislated to battle communist graffiti. The American public outraged to the sentence passed and flooded the Singaporean embassy with protests. Although the Singaporean government received many protests, Fay’s caning took place on May 1994 with the amount of lashes reduced from six lashes to four.

Conclusion

Up to this day the argument of graffiti being either a form of art or a menace to society still exists. A group of people encourage the proliferation of such street art to beautify and decorate the city, whereas the other group, local authority included, acts according to a contradictive agenda. The solution to such situation may well lie in the boundary of graffiti as an art form, and graffiti as an act of vandalism. Question is: where is this boundary? When do we look at graffiti as art and when do we see it as vandalism? Art and vandalism, in the street context, have a very vague border line. A mural may be considered as vandalism to those who do not favor it even if the mural is legal, and vice versa. Either way, one can safely say that most people are afraid of things that they do not understand, and graffiti with its ‘exclusive’ nature may pose a certain degree of threat and insecurity to some layers of society. Should we fight against graffiti to live cleaner environments or should we let graffiti exist to give the city the notion of a lived environment?

This article is based on an essay prepared for the seminar course work Music-City, Sport-City, Leisure-City at the Bauhaus University, Weimar, Germany Institute for European Urban Studies in the Winter semester 2006/2007.

[1] The term ‘visual density’ refers to the application of media on the already existing urban surface, in this case would be billboards, posters, and murals.[2] This happened in the late 1960s with the hippies, creating the early groundwork for graffiti.[3] The relationship between hip-hop and graffiti is yet to be questioned for not all graffitists listen to hip-hop. It is only because a number of graffitists happen to enjoy the three elements comprising the hip-hop culture and often their activities took place in the same areas where the other three evolved into forms of art.

Effectively we began our survey at 09.00, starting from an alley accessible from Jalan Tunjungan (Tunjungan Rd.), across Optik Seis Tunjungan. A brief description of Jalan Tunjungan; it is one of Surabaya’s legendary streets which used to be a shopping center. Traces of its history can be seen from its wide sidewalks, sheltered by buildings with zero border distance. The walls facing the sidewalks used to be shop display windows, providing pedestrians with the privilege of window shopping before finally deciding what they want to buy. These corridors, however, do not function they way they used to as they are now replaced by corridors in malls with air conditioning, where people can go window shopping in a more comfortable atmosphere. One of Tunjungan’s most significant architectural characters is the towers located on every corner of a building located on intersections. A number of colonial heritage buildings are located on Jalan Tunjungan; Hotel Majapahit, BPN Building, and the National Press Monument (formerly Toko Kwang, now occupied by Seiko)

An unbalance in building scale exists on Jalan Embong Malang (Embong Malang Rd.) where on the left now stand multi-storey buildings such as Plaza Tunjungan 4, Sheraton Hotel, Go Skate, JW Marriot, Crystal Garden’s unfinished structure, etc. whereas on the right stand a row of single storey buildings which house various silk-screening shops, and a range of small restaurants. One of the most well-known depot kaki lima (street kitchens) located on Embong Malang is Rawon Setan which opens for business from 21.00

On the right of Jalan Blauran (Baluran Rd.), shoulder to shoulder with Kampung Tunjungan, stand sport shops, and jewelery stores, and an antique-looking-giant, Imperial Plaza, a mall-styled jewelery center with its back turned on the Kampungs behind it. While on the left hand side is a row of jewelers, and the Blauran market.

Jalan Praban (Praban Rd.) is known for its shoe stores, from branded shoes to imitations. There is also the Joko Jumput Graveyard on the northern part of the road, which, according to Pak Josef is also part of Surabaya’s urban heritage besides the colonial buildings which have been defended by heritage enthusiasts.

Kampung Tunjungan is an urban kampung located in the heart of Surabaya, commonly known as the golden rectangle as it is surrounded by Jalan Tunjungan, Embong Malang, Baluran, and Praban. This kampung is the background, hidden behind commercial buildings standing on the roads mentioned. How is the atmosphere in these kampungs? There surely exists a great contrast! Life in these kampungs certainly goes at its own pace, much slower compared to the hustle and bustle of the commercial streets. When standing on the side of the main commercial streets, we were presented by noise and pollution from the heavy traffic, but as soon as we took a step into the kampungs through its alleys, about 50 meters from the busy streets, the noise from the heavy traffic will then substituted by people’s voices. From children playing in the alleys, men loitering and having conversations, women gossiping, senior citizens enchanting, music from the traditional tandak bedhes (a traveling monkey show) and sounds from door-to-door street kitchens. Kampung alleys are full-of-life public spaces where social attraction and interaction takes place. The alleys are free from motor vehicle noises as motorcycle riders have to push their bikes through the alleys, houses without front lawns, terraces that are practically shoulder-to-shoulder with the alley, some jengki (typical style of architecture which developed in Indonesia which set it apart from the colonial buildings) houses and some tall buildings can be found in the background when we walk from one alley to another.

When discussing Surabaya as a city, kampung is a theme that is present and recognized, but always sidelined by other agendas, whereas the colonial buildings often become the center of attention whenever Surabaya’s Surabaya-ness (Surabaya’s identity) is questioned (however, we can find a different situation when we pay a visit to ITS’s Laboratory for Settlement-Lab Pemukiman). In a cheap book bazaar in Balai Pemuda (Youth Hall) last December, I came to buy some books and found one book stand run by Surabaya’s Bureau of Archives. Inside the book stand there was a banner that said “Where is my Surabaya?”, and inside were also photos of the colonial buildings that have been categorized as heritage. It was as though Surabaya’s identity was represented by those buildings. The question is then, is that the only thing that represents Surabaya’s identity? Are kampung and pegupon (I couldn’t explain this term in English-if anyone can help me, please send me a notification through prananda.navitas@gmail.com thank you!) not part of the Surabaya identity? Do they not represent Surabaya’s identity? Are colonial buildings the only things that can be classified as urban heritage? Are Kampung Ampel, Joko Dolok tomb, Joko Jumput, and Botoputih graveyards not classifiable as urban heritage?

Those are questions which will be raised indeMAYA’s November 2008 event, with Surabaya being the theme. But which Surabaya will it be? Let us discuss it together, and share our ideas and thoughts. This is just a brief documentary of what we have witnessed and experienced during our survey.

note: as this is a translation from the original report, therefore the translator deeply apologizes for misinterpretations of any kind.

To begin things, let us first understand what public space really means. According to various sources, the term public space or a public place is a place accessible to anyone regardless of their economic or social conditions, although in its practice, this has not always been the case. Places such as non-government-owned malls are examples of private space appearing to be public. To further understand public space, one must know where public space takes place, or its area of usage. Public space cover most streets, including the pavement or sidewalks. Town squares or parks are also considered to fall under the category of public space. Adding to the list are government buildings such as public libraries, and many other similar buildings. However, not all state-owned buildings fall under this category.

After understanding what public space is all about, it is time to question ourselves with what rights does one have in public space? The answer to such question varies greatly according to time and place. In other words, different places, different rules apply. For example, in Islamic nations, during the holy month of Ramadan, eating and drinking in public space are not appreciated.

Although generally considered that every member of society has a right to access and use public space, as opposed to private space which may have restrictions, there has been some academic interest in how public spaces are managed to exclude certain groups, specifically homeless and young people. Certain measures are then taken to make the public space less attractive to them, including design, and the removal of benches to restrict their use for sleeping and resting, restricting access during certain times, locking indoor/enclosed areas. Authority may some times be involved in removing ‘unwanted’ members of the public from public spaces. Disabled people are also subject of exclusion from certain public areas due to the lack of suitable access.

Public Behavior

After a brief discussion of one’s rights in public space, the next aspect to consider in conjunction to people’s rights in public space is behavior. As the author currently resides in Shanghai, China, he would like to point out a set of general rules that is known to the general public as “Seven Don’ts”. The seven don’ts include the following:

1. Do not expectoration everywhere
2. Do not chuck garbage everywhere
3. Do not attaint public property
4. Do not destroy virescence
5. Do not random through the street
6. Do not smoking in public concourse
7. Do not say four-letter word

From the set of rules we see above, it is clear that although public spaces are accessible to every member of society, there are rules that one must abide by. This set of rules determines which behaviors are acceptable by society’s standards, and which are not. Let us now discuss the rules a little closer. Since the rules presented here were translated literally from Chinese into English, they may seem a bit awkward. Here is the author’s general understanding of the rules:

1. Do not expectoration everywhere (do not expectorate in public): this rule basically points out that people are not permitted to expectorate (spit) wherever their heart wills.
2. Do not chuck garbage everywhere (dispose of garbage properly): a general rule that one can find wherever they go. Garbage must be disposed of in designated spots (rubbish bins)
3. Do not attaint public property (do not deface public property): this rule invites members of society to look after public property/public facilities.
4. Do not destroy virescence (do not disturb other people’s right of a pleasant scenery): rounding up the first three rules, inviting members of society to participate in keeping the public sphere a pleasant place for everyone else.
5. Do not random through the street (do not cross the street at random places): a rule related to safety. One must cross the streets only at designated spots.
6. Do not smoking in public concourse (do not smoke in public places): a very clear and general rule that applies practically all over the world.
7. Do not say four-letter word (do not swear in public): this rule is as vague as it gets before the author had fully understood what is meant by “four-letter word”.

After having fully understood what each and every rule meant, it is time to take a look and discuss each rule closely. The author realized that the rules put together in a way that is not random. It has been put together according to the degree of severe-ness.

1. Do not expectorate in public

It is interesting to find this rule being the first of seven. In an article written by Di Fang which was published in China Daily on March 28^th, 2005, it is said that spitting is what Beijing residents hate most about living in the city, among the multitude of anti-social behavior to be witnessed on a daily basis. An undated photo of a man walking past a public announcement poster published in Shanghai saying “Don’t Spit” was also found in the same article. The poster depicted a man expectorating a small missile instead of saliva on a yellow background. A brief thought given to the poster by the author: the cartoon man in the poster, shown in an ignorant manner symbolizes people breaking the first “don’t” in Shanghai’s “seven don’ts”. The poster clearly states that spitting in public places is an ignorant and anti-social behavior, while the bomb, expectorated from the man’s mouth, though small, has a large impact in the social scene. From this poster it is also clear that spitting hurts China’s overall image, and the existence of this poster has shown that authorities are calling on people to quit this behavior. However, it seems that spitting in public has become a habit for some. This may be related to the statement given by Yang Ling, a Beijing resident, published in the same article:

“I find that few people will spit in their residential district or workplace. Spitting at home goes without saying. But on streets and in other public places such as buses and railway stations, spitting is more common. People believe that home and their residential district are their own places. In workplaces, people care about what people think of them as everybody else will know them, but in public places, due to a lack of supervision, some people believe the environment has nothing to do with them.”

According to this statement, lack of supervision exists in public places. Although authorities have called on people to stop spitting in public places, it seems that their actions can be considered to be lacking in seriousness. If authorities are seriously attempting to put an end to this anti-social behavior, then there should be laws to enforce their concerns. If lack of control still exists, then it can be expected that spitting in public places will continue to exist, and when the author relates the lack of control to the public service announcement poster published in Shanghai, then it is apparent that China is willing to risk their image by allowing public expectoration to continue. Education can also be a powerful tool to help remove public expectoration from the public sphere. It is up to educators to raise public awareness, and coming back to Yang Ling’s statement, where she said that people believe the environment has nothing to do with them, grow a stronger sense of belonging between people and their environment.

2. Dispose of garbage properly

The second “don’t” in Shanghai’s “seven don’ts” can probably be considered as a world wide problem as it exists not only in Shanghai, but basically everywhere all over the world. There’s no need for deep scientific research to prove that improper garbage disposal exists everywhere. This common behavior follows the lack of sense of belonging towards the environment.

3. Do not deface public property

As far as the author’s observation goes, this third “don’t” has been obeyed quite well, at least until one walks in a public toilet. However, when we relate this third “don’t” to the first; can we also consider people who expectorate in public to be defacing public property as well?

4. Do not disturb others’ right of a pleasant scenery

This rule is similar to the previous in some ways, but taking a look back at the first “don’t”, couldn’t we relate public expectoration to the violation of people’s right of beauty?

5. Do not cross the street at random places

The fifth “don’t” concerns public safety. It is reasonable, quite clear, and easy to understand anywhere that people cannot cross the streets wherever they feel like. It is a dangerous action, both for the pedestrian, and motorist. However, as far as the author’s observation goes, if one crosses at a pedestrian crossing, then safety issues are only for pedestrians to consider. Countless times have the author crossed the streets at designated crossing zones, and although the crossing light is green, motorists seem to care less about pedestrians. Therefore, there is almost no difference between pedestrians crossing the streets in random spots, or in designated crossing zones, thus a question comes to mind: why designate a crossing zone when there’s no guarantee of safety either pedestrians cross in the designated zones, or not? Of course some legal power when one gets hit by a vehicle while crossing in the designated crossing zone may exist, but the physical damage has been done, and material compensation is surely not enough to erase the possible psychological traumas.

Still related to vehicle/pedestrian issues, there surely exists a clear segregation between roads and sidewalks. First of all, let us take a look at the general understanding of the term road. This is what Wikipedia has to say: A road is an identifiable route, way or path between two or more places. Roads are typically smoothed, paved, or otherwise prepared to allow easy travel though they need not be, and historically many roads were simply recognizable routes without any formal construction or maintenance. In urban areas roads may pass through a city or village and be named as streets, serving a dual function as urban space easement and route. According to dictionary.com, a road is a long, narrow stretch with a smoothed or paved surface, made for traveling by motor vehicle, carriage, etc., between two or more points; street or highway. Whereas a sidewalk is defined as follows: A sidewalk (chiefly North American English), pavement (British English and Philadelphia dialect), footpath (Australian English, British English, Irish English, Indian English and New Zealand English) or footway (Engineering term) is a path for pedestrians that is situated alongside a road or formed like sidewalks that are alongside roads (such as a cement footpath through a park). They are usually constructed of concrete (particularly in the United States and Canada), asphalt, brick (particularly in Europe), stone or (increasingly) rubber, are designed for pedestrian traffic and are often found running alongside a road.

Notice how the author has underlined the words pedestrian traffic? It is apparent to the author that sidewalks, or footpaths, exist especially to cater to pedestrians’ needs, whereas roads cater especially to motorized vehicles. This, however, is not the case here in Shanghai. One can still see some friction between pedestrians, and motorized vehicles on the sidewalks.

6. Do not smoke in public places

Smoking in public comes down to individual versus society rights. Will the individual have control over society’s rights if they are allowed to smoke, or is it possible for society to ban smoking in public for the good of everyone else? The rationale to ban smoking in public places is of course to protect society from the harmful risks of second-hand smoke. Many countries have introduced smoking bans in enclosed spaces in various forms throughout the years, citing scientific proof of the harms that smoking does to one’s health regardless whether one is an active smoker, or a second-hand smoker. Another rationale of banning smoking in public space is to reduce the overall health care costs in a short term. It seems, although existing in the list of “don’ts” in Shanghai that society leans towards the rights of the individual, which is to allow smokers to smoke in public places. This is a discussion that continues to take place all over the world. However, seeing that smoking restrictions exist in the list of “don’ts” then Shanghai authorities should take measures in living up to their decision to ban smoking in public by either imposing heavy fines on those who smoke in public, or providing special areas for people to smoke in.

7. Do not swear in public

As we come to the final point of discussion, the author would firstly like to introduce the concept of a swear word to readers. A swear word is a word considered indecent and inappropriate in polite contexts which exists in most languages and cultures. These linguistic taboos are spawned from social taboos. As the author’s linguistic abilities are limited, he will use examples in English. In English, linguistic taboos generally surround blasphemy or obscenity. In the case of obscenity, the link between forbidden words and forbidden actions is illustrated by the fact that there is a surprisingly close correlation between the degree to which a word is deemed unacceptable, and the degree to which the action that it denotes is also considered publicly unacceptable. Thus, to burp or fart is considered only mildly offensive, and as a result these terms is not used as swear words. To s**t or f**k in public, however, would generally be deemed highly inappropriate and this is reflected by the taboos surrounding these words.

Of course, even when the subject matter being described is highly obscene, some words are considered to be significantly more offensive than others. There is a general conception that there is no true synonym in English, and in the case of obscenity, that appears to be true. The words copulate and f**k share the same denotative meaning, but their connotations are notably different, with the first term being a biological terminology, and the second being crude and contemptuous, and this is where the significant difference is located.

There is a widespread public association between swearing and social class, and many of those who criticize the habit most strongly do so because they believe it to be a ‘common’ and unrefined habit. It may be fair to say that many regular swearers come from anarchic or lower-class backgrounds, and that they swear primarily as a means of distancing themselves from mainstream society and affirming their position as a member of a particular social group. However, many famous swearers do not come from such backgrounds, and even English monarchs and American Presidents have been known to participate in the habit.

Having this pointed out in the “seven don’ts” is a direct attempt to avoid having the Shanghai citizens judged as being harsh, and uncivilized. However, we must view this matter in such a perspective that public swearing is, although disturbing, a very powerful tool to express extreme emotion, and swear words are also able to achieve effects that are difficult to create in more legitimate, or socially acceptable ways. Swearing may also be beneficial as a means of relieving anger, and some studies have indicated that those who swear regularly suffer less from stress than those who do not. When used in moderation, therefore it is safe to conclude that swearing is a valuable part of language. Excessive use, however, is less commendable, as not only it is tedious, but gradually diminishes the impact of the words involved, and as for the offense that may result from the explicit or blasphemous denotations of many swear words, this is a question of individual morals.

Conclusion

From the discussions above, it is hard to say exactly whether or not the “seven don’ts” has been obeyed by local citizens. For example, the first “don’t”, which is “do not expectorate in public”, seems to be an issue not just in Shanghai, but also a problem in Beijing. Other cities which the author had visited (e.g. Shijiazhuang and Zhengding), though not mentioned within the main discussion text, also seemed to face the same problem. As mentioned before, authorities have called upon the public to quit this habit by publishing public service announcement posters. However, these posters seem to have done little in even reducing the amount of people ‘involved’ in the habit. Public expectoration can still be seen on a daily basis. It is also possible, according to the author’s point of view, to relate the first “don’t” to the third, and the fourth “don’ts”. Public expectoration can be considered as defacing public property. Aren’t the roads, and sidewalks part of public property? And isn’t it up to every member of the society to look after it? Surely we cannot just rely on people employed by the authorities to clean up after our own mess. Public expectoration, when related to the third “don’t”, which is “Do not disturb other people’s right of a beautiful scenery”, can be deducted as the following: everyone has a right to enjoy pleasant scenery wherever they are. And though may be not directly related to the cityscape, performing bad habits such as expectorating in public may be considered as a direct violation of that right. So this means that whenever someone expectorates in public, they are not only violating the first “don’t”, but they are also violating the third, and the fourth.

The second “don’t”, which tells people to dispose of garbage properly, can also be closely related to the third, and the fourth. Having garbage all over the streets, and sidewalks can be said as defacing public property, and can also be said as a violation to other people’s right of pleasant scenery.

Observing the relationship between the first, second, third, and fourth “don’ts”, it is scary to think that one action can mean a violation of three different rules at the same time. And it is a shame to know that people still violate these four “don’ts”.

Coming to the fifth “don’t”, which regulates people not to cross the street in random places. The case may be, that people see no difference between crossing the street in pedestrian crossing zone, and outside the pedestrian crossing zone, since the risk of being hit by a vehicle is basically the same.

The sixth and seventh “don’ts” question each individual’s own morals. However, with the sixth “don’t”, a stronger law may be passed to further enforce it.

The author is more than happy to see such public restrictions exist, though better measures can be taken to implement these restrictions, such as passing laws, imposing fines to those who violate them, or even put together a special task force to watch over society, making sure that the “seven don’ts” are respected.

Putting together a special task force can also provide jobs for those who are currently unemployed, therefore covering two issues, the first being social behavior, and the other being unemployment, with one simple method. With the “seven don’ts” being obeyed respectively, and laws to enforce it, then the author is certain that Shanghai can look forward to a much better and harmonious future. And with the 2010 Shanghai Expo just around the corner, China doesn’t have to worry about having its image tainted face in front of the whole world because of petty things such as bad public behavior.

Wenn Mann ein Gedachtnis hat, über die Benutzung auf ein Platz, die viele Bedeutung und Moglichkeiten haben, kann man nicht so weit denken besonders in Bonn, als der Markplatz. Die Bestehung des Markplatzes in ueberall Europa hat signifikan Bedeutung. Es ist der Platz für die Bürgern und gibt wichtigen Auswirkungen an der Stadt. Besonders in dieser 2000 jaehrige Stadt; Bonn. Der Marktplatz in Deutschentradition hat eine wichtige Rolle als urbanen Raum, kaum fuer polistische Mittel.

Der Marktplatz ist genau so wie in anderer deutsche Städte, im Zentrum der Stadt, ein qudratischer Form; gleich gegen ueber das (alte) Rathaus mit der Statue oder etwas als Landmarkt der Stadt in Zentrum des Platzes, auch umgeben von kommerziellen Gebäude, wie Restaurant, Cinema, Handels, usw.

Am Markt passiert viele Funktionen, die in drei Monate in Bonn mir die Erfahrung gegeben hat. Fast jede 2 Wochen am Wochenende gibt es am Marktplatz etwas neues. An Wochentage gibt dort tradiotionale Markt mit viele verschiedene Frücthe und Gemüse- Handels. Sonst am Wochenende viele verschiedene Veranstaltungen, z.B. kulterellen Tag und kommerzielen Event gibt. Markplatz ist ein urbanisches Zentrum als allgemeines Feature in einer europäische Stadt.

As the examples each explain the differences and resemblances of the different types of festivities, I would like to point out here the lessons we can learn from the production of public space by these activities.

First of all I would explain the manifestation of Bourgeoisie’s role in the creation of public space in relation to the festivities. What is already became clear now that many of these actions being influenced by the part of society which has greater power than the nobles. At this period of time, the Bourgeoisie ruled over many aspects of life in Europe. Many of which contribute to the use of particular activities as celebrations and the places hosted them. As generators of the society, they motorized the public movements, change their common senses. These actions in some case succeed overruling many regulations and using their sovereignty as a way to influence the common views.

Secondly, I would highlight the festivities characters, types of space being created, activities they did and it’s characteristic. As we already know from the above discussed study cases, each of these spaces was a temporarily public space, which was usually open air space. In some cases, they used private space, but the meaning of this space became public. However, most of them were already considered public owned, like the street, park, etc. If we concluded their characteristic, it would depend on their grounds of celebrations. Their resemblances in space were mostly, mass used space, the free ambiance and the changing of norms during the revolution age. This affected the actors of the celebrations in spontaneous and hedonistic oriented actions.

At last I would like to mention that the public space creation in 19^th century Europe were characterized by the Bourgeoisie’s views. It is my suspicion that many of these festivities being politicized by their course of actions. To conclude, it may be a long research to proof that there are these tendencies, but my simple investigation proof that they were the ideals of this part of society being implemented in their act of festivities.

Study Case – 3

National – Bastille Day, France

We would not discuss the details of the long history in French Revolution. I will just refresh the memory of how things were and put more emphasize in the use of public space and the actors behind it. Bastille Day was declared as French national holiday on 6^th of July 1880 as the birth of the Republic. However, on 14^th of July 1790, the first celebration was held at Champs-de-Mars between the Ecole Militaire and the river Seine.

The day hosted many festivities but I will only mention here that has relation to the using of public space:

• A mass gathering at Champ de Mars, which was at that time considered out side of Paris. Earth steps on two sides were made to comprehend with the need of the 400,000 spectators on that day. A Triumphal Arch was built as the commemoration of the date. The Champ de Mars is a large public green-space in Paris, located in the 7th arrondissement, between the Eiffel Tower to the northwest and the École Militaire to the southeast.

• Military parades on Champ-Elysees avenue in front of Palais de Republic in the morning. The street was celebrating the day with colours and dances. The main use of the space was a past by track for the parade, where as the sides was used by the spectators to enjoy the celebrations. Many of the Parisians dressed nicely and the joy were seen as a nationwide celebration, completed with fireworks at night.

• Popular feast at the garden of Chateau de La Muette, where meals were offered to 22,000 before the balls took place. In the year 1790, at the height of the Revolution, the city of Paris offers a great civic banquet for 15 000 federal soldiers in the now-abandoned gardens of La Muette (the present-day site of the Ranelagh gardens). The Curiosities Cabinet is dismantled and all scientific instruments moved to the Observatory. The 18^th century building, which housed the laboratory is sold off with other outbuildings of the châteaux and incorporated into the urban fabric at what is now the corner of Rue de Passy and Rue de la Pompe.[1] The garden which was particularly belonged to the royal family was used as a symbol of the over-thrown power by the Bourgeoisie. Open space like this has a quality of vast variations of uses and in this case the ball took place.

Even though the people who participated in the celebration were mostly common citizens, but the generators of this event were sitting on the parliament and in the military service, since they were the ones having the political powers and the influences. The dancing parties organised by the fire fighters was a popular tradition created by the Parisian; in addition to that there were also art festivities, and banquets. Objective of the feasts were the manifestation of power of the civil right on the public space. Characteristics of the festival were full of national values, patriotic, military related, nation-wide and the many days of celebration. Middle class roles were the support system and powerful fund source.

[1] http://www.oecd.org/document/63/0,2340,en_2649_201185_1956607_1_1_1_1,00.html